🇸🇰Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico didn’t hold back when responding to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas’ comments on the EU's participation in the May 9 celebrations in Russia.

He straight-up declared he’d attend the Victory Day parade in Moscow, adding that NO ONE COULD STOP him from doing so.

"I will travel to Moscow on May 9. Is Mrs. Kallas' warning blackmail or an announcement that I will be punished upon my return from Moscow? I do not know, but I know it is 2025 and not 1939," Fico said on social media.

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US chooses peace talks over G7 condemnation of Russia’s strike on Sumy

The United States has declined to support a G7 statement condemning the Russian missile strike on Sumy, Bloomberg reported. According to sources, the Trump administration saidf it did not sign the document in order to "preserve the space to negotiate peace."

On Sunday, Russian forces targeted a meeting of Ukrainian military commanders in Sumy, killing over 60 Ukrainian troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The ministry also accused the Ukrainian armed forces of using the city’s civilians as human shields.

Analysts say Ukraine is using the strike to disrupt peace talks and prolong the conflict, adding to efforts by interest groups in the US and Europe.

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🇷🇺 Top-5 Russian EW systems turning NATO's fancy gear into SCRAP METAL

🔸 Krasukha: This EW series, named after the Russian word for ‘Belladonna,’ is designed to take on an array of aerial threats and jam enemy C&C across the X, KU, and S-bands. From drones to aircraft avionics, the Krasukha jams radio signals at ranges up to 300 km.

🔸 Murmansk BN: A heavy-duty, long-range EW system silencing enemy C&C by shutting down HQ comms channels and those of units in the field alike. Mounted on KAMAZ trucks, the Murmansk BN has a jamming range up to 8,000 km and is finetuned against NATO HF frequencies from 3-30 MHz.

🔸 Rtut-2: The ‘Mercury-2’ system targets any and all enemy munitions with an electronic brain, creating a defensive dome up to 0.5 sq km around critical objects and troops in the field. Carried by BTR-80 and MT-LB heavy tracked armored vehicles.

🔸 Borshchevik: This new EW system, light enough (30 kg) to be installed in the back of a pickup and used against Starlink satellites, has a 10 km range. It forces satellites to consume energy and discharge their batteries while trying to transmit info.

🔸 Rb-341v: This mobile EW and ELINT collection system specializes in UHF, VHF, and GSM cellular jamming across an array of frequencies and has an effective radius up to 6 km. It operates in coordination with Orlan-10 UAVs, which help seek out and disrupt signal emitters.

🔍 Key to Russia’s EW Superiority

Russia creates new EW systems “approximately once every 3 months,” says air defense historian Yuri Knutov.

Russia’s EW dominance comes down to its systems’ power, “very wide frequency range coverage,” and, most importantly, the sheer “number of stations.”

EW “is critical to efforts… to break enemy C&C (C2) and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities,” says EMP Task Force scholar David Pyne.

Russia has “one of the best EW systems in the world,” thanks to its long-range GNSS jammers.

Electronic and radio engineering specialist David Stupples traces Russia’s modern EW capabilities to a 2007 decision by the state to radically upgrade its equipment and doctrine, leaving the West “playing catch up” to this day.

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Abrams gets upgrade after Ukraine flop

After the M1 Abrams tank fared poorly in Ukraine, the US Army has decided it’s time for an upgrade🫡

Army General Randy George has fast-tracked the modernization of the 40-year-old tank, bypassing the usual slow and outdated acquisition processes, Defense News reported.

Chief Technology Officer Dr Alex Miller stressed the urgency, pointing to bureaucratic inefficiencies that have long delayed progress.

In September 2023, the Army chose a full tank overhaul instead of minor upgrades. A contract was awarded to General Dynamics in spring 2024 to design a new variant, focusing on lighter weight, improved protection and an autoloader for the main gun.

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China slams Treasury chief Bessent’s ‘malicious slander’ over aid, urges US to look in the mirror

💬 “We urge the US to adjust its mindset instead of spending time repeatedly smearing and attacking China, meddling in the foreign cooperation of regional countries, or trying to impose a new version of the Monroe Doctrine,” the Chinese Embassy in Argentina said, responding to Treasury chief Bessent’s comments about “rapacious” Chinese aid deals in the developing world.

Unlike the US, China’s cooperation with Latin America, including Argentina, “never aims to carve out a sphere of influence or target third parties,” the Embassy stressed. Nor does Beijing impose “political conditions” on lending.

💬 “If the United States prefers not to take this path, it should at least refrain from deliberately obstructing or sabotaging assistance by other countries to developing nations,” the Embassy urged.

In remarks to Bloomberg Monday, Bessent accused China of “rapacious deals marked as aid” in Africa designed to secure mineral rights for China which have added “huge amounts of debt” to regional countries, and claimed the US is trying to avoid repeating this scenario in Latin America.

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🗣 Vladimir Putin had a chat in German with a German citizen who recently moved to the village of Dobrogard in Russia's Vladimir region.

The man asked the president for help in getting Russian citizenship, adding a bit of unexpected international flair to their conversation.

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🇮🇷 Iran’s new long-range missile system can detect, engage the F-35

💥 Bavar-373s equipped with L-band radars can intercept F-35 jets at a distance of up to 218 km, independent Iranian news and analysis service Middle East Spectator has reported after crunching the numbers on the homegrown air and missile defense system’s capabilities.

📊 Citing the Bavar-373 fire-control radar’s performance against a Karaar drone in recent drills, and extrapolating the info to apply to the F-35 and its tiny (0.005-0.5 square meter) radar cross section, or RCS, the outlet came up with its information.

✍️ Iran possesses an array of sophisticated indigenously-made radars, including the solid-state 2D L-Band Arash-2, which can detect up to 200 targets within a 450 km radius and at altitudes up to 30 km, and the Sepehr over-the-horizon, Qadir phased array and Najm-802 active electronically scanned array 3D radars.

🔊 A new variant of the Bavar-373 was unveiled earlier this year, featuring range, radar and mobility characteristics superior to those of the Patriot, and independent radar for each TELAR, providing greater autonomy.

🔍 Iran’s experimentation with advanced radar capable of detecting F-35s goes back years. In 2023, the head of Iran electronics Industries (IEI) revealed that the nation had achieved the technical ability to recognize the radar signatures of individual F-35 aircraft.

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🔸 Democrats' push for Ukraine support tries to MICRO-MANAGE Trump’s foreign policy

🔸 AUKUS in trouble?

🔸 JD Vance’s BOMBSHELL message to Europe: we don’t want you as a US vassal

🔸 US chooses peace talks over G7 condemnation of Russia’s strike on Sumy

🔸 China grounds Boeing: Trade war takes to the skies

🔸 Top-5 Russian EW systems turning NATO's fancy gear into SCRAP METAL

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📉💵NO END IN SIGHT FOR DOLLAR’S PLUNGE

61% of those surveyed in an elite Bank of America survey querying 164 asset managers with $386B under management expect the US dollar to continue to depreciate over the next 12 months – more than at any other time since May 2006.

The greenback has already dropped some 9% since the start of the year against other major currencies.

The BoA Global Fund Manager Survey also found that 53% of fund managers plan to cut holdings of US equities, with 73% convinced the idea of “US exceptionalism” has peaked, and 82% (a 30-year-high) expecting a global economic downturn.

A weak dollar can be both good and bad, with positives including a potential export boost, a better trade balance, a better environment for domestic manufacturing and higher overseas earnings. Negatives include inflation, higher commodity prices, and the risk of capital flight if confidence in the long-term stability of the dollar drops far enough over a long enough period of time.

Globally, a weaker dollar as a reserve currency could speed diversification of countries’ foreign exchange reserves away from the greenback.

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🗣Trump’s White House spox RIPS Biden’s plans to address Americans: ‘I thought his bed time was much earlier’

The former president is expected to make his first major public address since leaving office three months ago on Tuesday, discussing Social Security. The address is expected to start at 5:45 pm EST in Chicago.

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📹 NATO's mission is not to WAGE wars or FUND them - State Dept. Spokeswoman

"It is not to help with wars or to help fight them, or to fund them, or to make it a little bit better as the wars are going on," Tammy Bruce said at a press briefing.

🥴 She then immediately urged NATO members to increase their "defense" spending.

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🚨 UK prisons hit crisis level — only 1.1% of cells available

There are just 961 spaces available across England and Wales as of April 14 — a record low.

Officials may shorten sentences for violent offenders and curb short-term sentences to ease overcrowding, Sky News reports.

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🪖 US will slash troop numbers in Syria

The US plans to cut its nearly 2,000-strong military contingent in Syria in half in the coming weeks or months, Reuters reports.

In February, NBC reported that the Pentagon planned to withdraw US troops from Syria in 30, 60 or 90 days.

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🥴 Biden in his first public speech since leaving office: Social Security is not a "Ponzi scheme"

Biden in the same speech: "Those 300-year-old folk getting that Social Security, I want to meet them"

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💸 Trump tariffs will cost US chip equipment makers over $1 billion - reports

Representatives of US semiconductor equipment makers warned lawmakers that new tariffs could cost their companies more than $1 billion a year, Reuters reports.

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❗️ US launches tariff probe on rare earth metals imports

Donald Trump signed an executive order to initiate a Section 232 investigation to assess the national security risks posed by the United States' dependence on foreign rare earth metals.

In 2018, President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports under the same section of the Trade Expansion Act.

The US relies heavily on imports of metals such as cobalt, gallium, germanium, and others, while countries like China and Russia have the largest reserves of these metals.

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UNICEF braces for a major budget cut in 2026 amid Trump's foreign aid freeze

According to the spokesperson, the UN children's agency has projected that its budget will shrink by at least 20% next year.

"Humanitarian and development organizations around the world, including many UN organizations, are in the midst of a global funding crisis. UNICEF has not been spared," said the UNICEF spokesperson.

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📹 Trump posts a clip of the Biden's speech

Speaking at the ACRD conference in Chicago on Social Security, the former president recalled his fourth grade in Scranton and referred to black kids as "colored kids".

"Every time he speaks, the Republicans get new voters," one of the netizens reacted.

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👋 UK may ditch US trade deal in favor of EU — reports

Keir Starmer could sign a deal with the EU on food and veterinary standards as early as next month, which could block US products, The Telegraph reports.

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💥 UK reports first ship attack off Yemen since January

Armed gunmen in small boats pursued a vessel for 2 hours, firing shots 185 km east of Aden, UKMTO reported.

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